U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes has used the influence of his office and taxpayer money to improve the lives of family members and advance his career, says a new television ad created by the congressman's chief rival in the District 16 U.S. House of Representatives race.

Former El Paso city Rep. Beto O'Rourke is trying to unseat the eight-term incumbent Democrat in a race many say will be close. The ad continues an increasingly negative tone in the campaigning as Tuesday's Texas primaries near.

O'Rourke's campaign created the 30-second ad, titled "Who Does Reyes Work For?"

The ad recounts the circumstances of a $200 million federal contract awarded without a competitive bidding process to a company that hired Reyes' children and donated to his campaign. That company was International Microwave Corp., or IMC.

White letters appear one by one on a dark brick wall to the clacking of a typewriter. In the background is what sounds like law enforcement radio traffic.

Here is a fact-check of the ad:

TRUE: "Silvestre Reyes championed the building of a $200 million virtual border fence."

In a previous fact-check, Reyes denied having anything to do with awarding the no-bid contract. But he has said his job was to ensure there would be funding for a high-tech approach to border security, which he supported.

In an email response, Reyes said his experience in Vietnam and as a U.S. Border Patrol chief convinced him of the need for electronic surveillance.

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"I have been supportive of sensors and technology É that provide real-time surveillance and intelligence to our law-enforcement agencies as we work to protect and secure our borders," Reyes wrote.

TRUE: "The fence contractor, IMC, hired all three of Reyes' kids and contributed $17,000 to his campaign."

An April 25, 2005, El Paso Times story quoted data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the Federal Elections Commission that showed he received "about $17,000 in campaign contributions during the past five years" from the political action committees of IMC and another company that bought IMC.

At the time, Reyes did not deny that his three children had worked for those companies. He said he had done nothing to help them get the jobs.

In responses for a recent fact-check, the congressman said only two of his children had been hired by those companies. However, in 2005, Reyes told the El Paso Times that the third child was paid by IMC to conduct training.

The campaign did not directly answer a question asking whether the congressman was now saying his daughter did not conduct the training.

TRUE: "But one thing the feds missed before the program was shut down for failure to perform É IMC's Texas office was out of Silvestre Reyes's house."

The Texas office location was not mentioned in a federal audit of the program. Most program activities were halted after the audit, which found "defective equipment that was poorly installed" and "lax oversight by government officials who failed to properly supervise the project's contractor."

The audit estimated losses "in the tens of millions of dollars."

"Unfortunately, too many different devices, unneeded by the U.S. Border Patrol, were placed on the virtual fence, which caused its failure," Reyes said in the email.

And a 2002 document filed with the Texas secretary of state proposed that IMC would use Reyes' Upper Valley home as its registered office in Texas. Another of his daughters was listed as a company vice president.

The congressman's daughter said she had listed the home as her permanent residence and no company business was conducted there other than a few phone calls.

The ad finishes by tying all the charges together and asks, "Who is Silvestre Reyes really working for?"

In a Wednesday email, O'Rourke said, (O)ur Congressman use(d) his position to push for a $200 million boondoggle for a top donor who hires all 3 of his children, it's clear we need a change."